In the News

February 25, 2015 | The two Republican members of the Federal Communications Commission who have asked for a delay in the agency’s vote tomorrow (Thursday) on net neutrality rules both have past connections to big money interests opposed to the rules. On the other hand, so does the FCC chairman, whose proposal is on the table. At stake is…

February 11, 2015 | We have no idea how many jobs are generated by federal elections, but we do know that some individuals and firms make a very good living from modern political campaigns. In fact, we can tell you just how well certain media companies, consultants, pollsters and others in the “election-industrial complex” are doing. In the 2014…

February 5, 2015 | In the ongoing scrum that is the GOP presidential money primary, every wealthy donor locked up adds both to a potential candidate’s perceived viability and his credibility with more donors. FEC filings from late last month have already yielded positive signals for several of the senators who may be angling for the nomination, but the…

September 17, 2014 | In the run-up to the 2012 elections, Republican candidates spent more on political contributions than their Democratic counterparts for the first time in a decade, transferring $54 million from candidate committees to parties or other candidates. On the Democratic side, similar transfers peaked at $76.3 million in the 2008 cycle, after growing steadily since 2002. Though…

August 12, 2014 | With fewer than three months until the general election, campaigns are in full swing as candidates push their supporters to show up at the polls. There’s lots of buzz about what Congress will look like after November 4th, and who will be moving to Washington, but the list of those who won’t be heading back…

June 16, 2014 | Sen. Thad Cochran‘s (R-Miss.) chances of fending off tea party-backed challenger Chris McDaniel remain uncertain a week before the runoff election next Tuesday — but if he loses, it won’t be for lack of trying by establishment Republicans. Cochran has benefited from the strong support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose fundraiser last week on…

May 30, 2014 | Mississippi can lay claim to some of the GOP’s ugliest infighting leading up to Tuesday’s Senate primary vote, marked by a proxy war between the conservative establishment and tea party affiliates that’s triggered a torrent of spending by outside groups. Poll results have been all over the map in recent weeks, indicating that state senator and…

April 9, 2014 | Shaun McCutcheon's lead attorney scoffs at the notion that super JFCs and PACs will proliferate with the overall contribution limits now in the dustbin. He has some experience, but he also has skeptics.

October 1, 2013 | On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, igniting a wave of criticism from pro-gun members of Congress. A closer look shows most of those opponents depend on the gun lobby for campaign cash.

September 26, 2013 | Sen. Ted Cruz's marathon speechifying seemed meant to please a certain subset of the Texan's supporters -- and it did. But what about his corporate contributors? They're big backers of the Republican establishment, which didn't much like his "filibuster."

July 2, 2013 | Fancy dinners with members of Congress are all but verboten for lobbyists these days. But they can still make an impression with campaign contributions. An OpenSecrets.org analysis has crunched the available numbers from the 2014 election cycle.

June 17, 2013 | Market prices for liquefied natural gas are typically higher abroad, and API's member companies could reap vast profits overseas. But the fight to drop export restrictions is pitting them against another strong presence in Washington with whom they are sometimes allied: domestic users of their products, including DOW Chemical.

March 25, 2013 | Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is creating a shadow money group to push for immigration reform. The billionaire's new nonprofit will be backed by a number of other executives and a team of bipartisan consultants with powerful connections.

February 27, 2013 | The subject of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing today -- a proposed assault weapons ban -- is controversial enough. But casting another shadow on the conversation is the fact that members of the panel, who may vote on the proposal as early as Thursday, have received far more in campaign contributions from gun rights groups and individuals who are committed to the issue than they have from the other side. Since 2000, committee members have collected over $350,000 from gun rights groups and individuals, but just $17,000 from pro-gun control interests.

February 18, 2013 | Few states -- in fact only one -- beat Texas when it comes to providing political cash, but Democrats, with the help of demographics, will have to work hard to match Republicans in reeling it in. Also, Carnival Cruise Lines has taken its share of lumps lately, which may have some connection to its ramped up spending on Washington lobbying.

October 28, 2011 | Ron Conway, the man behind the YouTube hit "Ed Lee is 2 Legit 2 Quit" has actually given more money to Republican candidates and groups -- about 70 percent of the $246,000 he's donated at the federal level over the years.

October 27, 2011 | Only a handful of U.S. senators voluntarily chose to fast-track their third-quarter campaign finance records to the public by electronically filing their reports with the Federal Election Commission.

September 23, 2011 | Moody's evaluation was meant to be apolitical. But Moody's itself doesn't stay above the fray. Last year, the company spent $1.5 million on federal lobbying, and during the first half of this year, it spent $610,000.

July 15, 2011 | A handful of U.S. senators have electronically filed their second quarter fund-raising numbers -- even though Senate campaign committees remain the only federal political committees not required to do so.

June 18, 2011 | Oil company BP continues its slow climb out of political purgatory, as its political action committee on Friday reported donating thousands of dollars in May to federal-level politicians hailing from a variety of states.

May 13, 2011 | The Senate Finance Committee conducted a hearing Thursday on whether to end tax breaks for the nation's five biggest oil companies. Senate Democrats have proposed eliminating $21 billion in tax cuts during the next 10 years.

April 5, 2011 | "In politics money = access," a donation solicitation from the Physician Hospitals of America obtained by OpenSecrets Blog states as one of five reasons to financially support the organization's political action committee. "We need access to our politicians to educate them about who we are, what we provide, why we exist and how we benefit patients, physicians, communities and the healthcare industry."

March 18, 2011 | In late January, first-term Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) called on the Interior Department to allow a regulated wolf hunt in Montana. A few days later, he urged Taco Bell to use Montana beef in its restaurants. In between, Tester introduced S. 219, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. The measure would require senators and U.S. Senate candidates to file their campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission -- electronically.

October 5, 2010 | Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a Tea Party-loving conservative who wants to shake up and remold the institution he currently calls home, stands above other lawmakers in the frontier of creative uses of leadership PACs to aide fellow candidates.

August 27, 2010 | Want to know which sitting member of Congress has received the most money from the oil and gas industry? Which lawmaker has received the most from environmentalists? The alternative energy industry? Now you can find that information in one centralized location on OpenSecrets.org -- presented with sort-able and down-loadable options for your convenience.

August 5, 2010 | An advocacy group recently began a public relations campaign in defense of the oil industry with some pointed criticism from BP -- after the corporation rebuffed a request for a donation from the group. Groups like the Institute for Energy Research are organized as nonprofits and thus can wage ideological battles with little disclosure of their funding or motives, the Washington Post reports.

July 29, 2010 | Charles Wyly Jr. and Samuel Wyly, Texas businessmen and brothers who are among the most generous campaign donors to Republican political candidates and causes, were today hit with a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing them of fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

July 8, 2010 | During Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings last week, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the high court's major campaign finance ruling from January that overturned a ban on independent expenditures in federal elections funded by corporations and unions, was mentioned by name a whopping 87 times, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of the hearings' transcripts.

June 29, 2010 | But Byrd's views on climate change altered late in life and he looked liked to be a potential ally of legislation capping carbon emissions. There are doubts whether a freshman Democratic senator from West Virginia could withstand pressure from the coal industry to vote against such legislation.

June 8, 2010 | The company that owns a pipeline that exploded Monday in north Texas, Houston-based Enterprise Products Company, is on pace spent more on federal lobbying this year than any other year they've lobbied the federal government, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying reports.

May 19, 2010 | Massive campaign war chests and establishment endorsements were not enough to be victorious in some of the country's most contested Senate primaries Tuesday night. One sitting Senator was defeated and another is heading to a run-off in three weeks, as candidates worked to distance themselves from Washington and position themselves as crusaders against special interests in charged anti-incumbent environments.

May 13, 2010 | NEW BRITISH GOVERNMENT AGREES TO LOBBYING REFORM: Among the legislative priorities the new coalition government in the United Kingdom has agreed to pursue is regulation of federal lobbying, and possible campaign finance reform measures.

April 20, 2010 | Government allegations that financial giant Goldman Sachs defrauded investors are creating a political storm, with some lawmakers hoping that the civil lawsuit filed Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission is just the beginning.

February 4, 2010 | Come Super Bowl Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning will stand on one side of the line of scrimmage, inches away from New Orleans Saints' Pro Bowl linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who's tasked with dislodging the all-galaxy quarterback's head. But the outcome of football's biggest game isn't the only point on which Manning and Vilma disagree. In a teeny, tiny Super Bowl subplot, the two rivals are political foils, too.

November 16, 2009 | Congress often acts as a type of bank for bankers themselves -- a place executives can direct their cash, perhaps hoping to collect interest in the form of a legislative favor. The interest rate on that premium appears to be low these days, however, as commercial banks could face a sweeping regulatory overhaul in the coming months.

October 7, 2009 | CASTLE ON A (SENATE) CLOUD: Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) announced yesterday that he intends to run for the Senate seat left vacant by Vice President Joe Biden, turning the race into "one of the top races in the country," said National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas), according to The Hill. Cornyn also hinted that the race would be expensive.

October 1, 2009 | A new collaborative investigation between the Sunlight Foundation and Center for Responsive Politics shows that since January 2007, more than 500 individual lobbyists donated roughly $2.8 million to 61 members of Congress who took money from at least 10 lobbyists and also received money from their clients' PACs or employees. Among the recipients were 11 senators who sit on the Senate Finance Committee.

September 8, 2009 | When President Barack Obama gives his much-anticipated speech about health care Wednesday night before a joint session of Congress, he won't likely address medical malpractice reform, much to the chagrin of the country's doctors. Given that health professionals are the second largest contributor this election cycle to candidates and party committees, they might feel slighted by the president's omission.

July 21, 2009 | Since Democrats swept into congressional power in the 2006 midterm elections, many industries -- including some that traditionally back Republicans -- have either begun to contribute to both parties equally or favor Democrats outright. The chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, however, never had to make any shift. Jamie Dimon happens to be a long-time man of the left.

July 9, 2009 | Over the past three weeks, Capital Eye has contacted members of five Capitol Hill committees responsible for drafting health care reform legislation this summer. Here are their responses (and non-responses) and the money they're collecting from various industries.

June 25, 2009 | Here's a cool tool that brings together data from various parts of OpenSecrets.org to show how much money each current lawmaker has raised from various health-related industries and the health sector overall since 1989 (including President Obama's haul).

June 11, 2009 | For some lawmakers it is never too early to start greasing the money machine. Capital Eye takes a look at some of the new and re-elected senators who are already raising big bucks, even though they won't face another election for six years.

June 11, 2009 | Although the Obama administration and a Democratic-controlled Congress now own a majority stake of General Motors, the retired executive appointed yesterday to be the company's new CEO, Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., is a veteran Republican fundraiser.

February 18, 2009 | As the story behind the embattled investment company Stanford Financial Group develops, we thought we'd take an even closer look at the seeds the company may have tried to plant in Washington via campaign contributions. When looking at ALL lawmakers to collect money from the company's PAC and employees (not just members of the current Congress), some additional, important names appear at the top of the recipient list.

February 17, 2009 | Money manager Robert Allen Stanford now has two things in common with embattled investment manager Bernard Madoff: both have come under scrutiny for allegedly defrauding their investors, and both have given significant funds to politicians. Between its PAC and its employees, Stanford Financial Group has given $2.4 million to federal candidates, parties and committees since 2000.

February 12, 2009 | The close ties between Rep. John Murtha and a Washington lobbying firm raided by the FBI have put the powerful Pennsylvania Democrat under greater scrutiny. The lobbyists at PMA Group have been Murtha's fifth most generous campaign donor over time, but he is just one of 284 members of the 111th Congress who have collected money from the firm, which specializes in securing federal earmarks for its clients. In total, PMA Group's employees and its political action committee have given current members of Congress $3.4 million since 1989.

September 30, 2008 | Registered lobbyists aren't just getting the attention of lawmakers while on the job. Like any other member of the public, they, too, are able to contribute up to the maximum amount per election to candidates of their choice. The Center for Responsive Politics has identified the congressional races with candidates who are receiving the most money from registered lobbyists.

September 29, 2008 | The oil and gas industry, under the spotlight this fall with energy at the forefront of political discourse, isn't hesitating to put some of its record profits into the hands of candidates who support its cause (or those it's seeking to convert). So far this election cycle, the oil and gas industry has given $12.3 million total to congressional candidates. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has identified the candidates who have received the most money from oil and gas interests in this election cycle, and Capital Eye selected a few races to more deeply examine the impact of well-digger dollars on politics.

September 25, 2008 | Private interests and members of the public aren't the only ones betting their money on the congressional candidates they hope will win (or retain) congressional seats. Lawmakers in both parties have a vested interest in seeing their own candidates succeed this November, with Democrats wanting to strengthen their majority and Republicans hoping to minimize their losses. Here we look at some of the candidates getting the largest cash infusions from their own parties, indicating a close race.

September 23, 2008 | The last time Congress seriously debated how to regulate the financial industry, the result was legislation that allowed the nation's largest banks to get even larger and take risks that had been prohibited since the Great Depression. A look back at that debate, which was over the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, reveals that campaign contributions may have influenced the votes of politicians who, a decade later, are now grappling with the implosion of the giant banks they helped to foster.

September 12, 2008 | Uncle Sam bailed out Freddie Mac and the company's twin sister, Fannie Mae, this week, and the next in line in the Wall Street family to get a helping hand might just be Lehman Brothers. Executives at the struggling investment bank are looking to sell the company with assistance from the government--and fast--as its stock plunges. Although the government isn't expected to completely bail out Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, the company has built a strong financial relationship with politicians over the years and coincidentally ranks fourth in the largest contributors in the race for the White House.

September 11, 2008 | When the federal government announced two months ago that it would be seizing mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CRP looked at how much money members of Congress had collected since 1989 from the companies. On Sunday the government proceeded with the takeover and we've returned to our data to bring you the updates, this time providing a list of all 354 lawmakers who have gotten money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (in July we posted the top 25).

July 31, 2008 | Long in the shadow of traditional energy sources, alternative energy has come into the spotlight as a potential energy crisis looms. For some producers of alternative energy sources, this is the perfect time to promote their legislative wish list--and spend more money than they ever have before to do it. Others are considering the new push as just hype in the on-again, off-again quest for renewable energy.

July 31, 2008 | While this year's own battle over offshore drilling for oil has largely been a skirmish between the deep-pocketed oil and gas industry and grassroots environmentalists, senators along the coast in particular have to pay attention to an additional industry that's a player on Capitol Hill: tourism.

July 30, 2008 | The Center for Responsive Politics lists all of the current members of Congress who have gotten money from the candidate committee or leadership PAC of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury as part of a wide-ranging investigation of corruption in Alaska politics. Now some lawmakers are quickly giving the money away to distance themselves from the embattled senator.

May 21, 2008 | With gas prices the highest they've ever been, the oil and gas executives who testified this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee had to feel like they were in the hot seat. But as they were being grilled about skyrocketing prices, they could take some comfort in the strong financial relationship their industry has with lawmakers, including those on the committee.

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